Sometimes things don't click

Thursday

Jan 3, 2013 at 1:10 AM

Sometimes things just don't click in an athletic event. Lexington's game with Ben L. Smith was supposed to tip off at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday but at 6:25 p.m., the second half of the JV game had just started.

mike duprez

Sometimes things just don't click in an athletic event. Lexington's game with Ben L. Smith was supposed to tip off at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday but at 6:25 p.m., the second half of the JV game had just started.Something was definitely amiss.It turns out that the bus driver couldn't find Lexington Senior High School. That just doesn't fly. There were surely more than a few smartphones on that bus. Somebody could have used Google Maps to get directions. The game should have been declared a forfeit.Lexington coach Robert Hairston did what he could, ordering the quarters of the JV game to be trimmed from eight to seven minutes, shortening halftime and paring down the time in between games.That helped some but the closing minutes of the fourth quarter were interminably long due to fouls and timeouts. The varsity game didn't tip off until 7:06 p.m., 36 minutes later than scheduled. Granted, the second game of a doubleheader (usually varsity girl/boys) isn't always going to start right on time because the flow of a game is never an exact science. But it's usually pretty close.Once the varsity game got going, Lexington was all out of whack. The Jackets had all of 22 points in the first three quarters in an ugly 47-34 loss. An irate Hairston kept his team on the bench during the abbreviated five-minute halftime.It could be that the late start worked against Lexington even if it didn't mess up Smith."Maybe but you've still got to come to play," Hairston said. "We just didn't do it. We've got to learn to play."Two of the spectators were West Davidson coach Derrick Stokes and East Davidson coach Matt Jacobs. Stokes was playing close attention, scouting a future opponent. West may not win every game but Stokes won't ever get outcoached. He's that good. Believe it. Jacobs is an elite coach, too. No, he didn't get a technical. But he might on Friday when his Golden Eagles play Lexington. You see, Jacobs stays fired up.Things may have been out of whack at Lexington but that sort of thing has happened before to other schools and will happen again.Thomasville had its basketball and wrestling teams scheduled to be at home Thursday night. Since they don't have two gyms like North Davidson and Ledford, that wasn't going to work. So the wrestling match was moved to Friday after the two JV basketball games with Central Davidson. That's unfortunate timing for the powerhouse Bulldog wrestling team, which is having its 2012-13 Central Carolina Conference coming out against Central. Wrestling on Friday is nothing unusual. Some coaches would schedule matches for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Sundays if they could get away with it. But Thomasville and Central are playing basketball on Friday. That's where the crowd will be.It even happens at the college level.Back on Nov. 14, Davidson County Community College had a game scheduled at Brinkley Gym with Virginia Tech's JV team. Problem is, Virginia Tech doesn't have a JV team. A team did show up that night. It was billed as a "club" team but looked more like an intramural squad. DCCC officials found out the day of the game that they were playing a club team. DCCC has a return trip to Blacksburg, Va., on Jan. 28 to play the nonexistent Virginia Tech JV team. That game ought to be scrapped.With conference play starting Friday, Hairston would like to see unsuccessful basketball games put on the scrap heap. You can't count on that.Mike Duprez can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 218, or mike.duprez@the-dispatch.com.

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